It would work. I have found a pair in my SE84UFO3 mono blocks to be the best I've used so far.

The Sophia Electric Aqua 274B would go good with DHC3. If your into color schemes lol.  Do have 80's with adapters.

Thank you Lon

No 0A3 glow blue as far as I know.

The 0B3, 0C3 and 0D3 that I have used all glow blue. The blue isn’t very pronounced in most of them.

Changing the 0_3 tube will have a significant change in sound if it reacts similarly to the UFO25TH and Torii MKIV.

They are cool looking though.

Without knowing how the amp sounds with the stock tubes, it’s a shot in the dark if the SE 274b will take you in the direction you want to go or not.

I’m looking forward to using the EML 5u4g in the MKV. In the UFO25TH I greatly preferred the EML over the SE. Running EML in my Torii MKIV now, they are the favorite rectifier I’ve run. I’m waiting to get my MKV until I sell off some of my NOS matched pairs.

They are light and airy, full of texture, nuance and micro detail. The sound stage is wide and enveloping. Highs are shimmering and hang in the air. Bass is the tight, fast and controlled while being airy at the same time. It’s really wild.

The SE (only compared SE and EML in UFO25TH) is a quality tube. It’s a more dense-thick sound. The soundstage isn’t as wide or deep.

GroovySauce,

Are you using a preamp with your Torii MKIV?

Impressive GroovySauce!

Cryotone KT77.

jec3504, are you also using KT77's in your mkV?

Thanks,

mine is currently building so starting to think about whether to run with KT77's as Steve recommended them in the build thread.

I have PAP Trio horn1 speakers with 2x paradigm x12 subs.
They are an easy load, currently running a bottlehead 300b amp which is 8W.

Can say this, Changing the rectifiers make a huge impact on the Torri.

Hi Giggsy,

So far I have used 5U3C black plates and Mullard GZ34 / 5AR4 f-32 8 notch. Just a preliminary test. The stock tubes were GE 5U4GB. My Cryotone 5AR4 and EL34 should arrive today.

Probably a good idea to get out the socket savers. Underestimated the benefits of changing rectifiers. See myself down the road wanting EML 5U4G and the SE 274B. This is a selfish hobby.

Joseph

Congrats Giggsy,

Won't be long now, feels good after the wait to have such a payoff for being so patient. FWIW it's all been money well spent.

Can't wait to hear you thoughts.

Joseph

Was there a marked improvement with the cryotone 5AR4?

Giggsy,

Really all the tubes make a huge difference. This amp is incredible. Changing the rectifiers are impressive. The 5AR4s sure can make the sound smooth while the 5U4Gs give it slam and a forward sound.

Not running any stock tubes.

Thanks Nigel,

240 hours and the sound is still changing. Running the El34-WC and 5AR4-WC. Just put the 5AR4-WC back in after a day of old stock 5U4Gs. First change of rectifiers since the new power tubes. Trying to understand how much the rectifiers changes the sound. Tried a couple of 6SN7s and 6SL7s, they all sounded good. The Cryotone tubes were a good surprise. Sounds very similar to the system I grew up with. Laid back yet dynamic and the bottom end is very smooth. Sound stage is deeper and taller. Best with older recordings, has a soulful flow and the midrange is detailed. Very happy with them. Not my first choice for rock or newer compressed music. At least with the 5AR4-WC. El34-WC seemed to easily rock out with the 5U4Gs.

So far so good. Congrats on your new space, should be ready for your new Torii. Very impressive Nigel, enjoy.


Joseph

I'm pretty sure the same converter base for 6SN7 can be used.

Nigel,

Quote:


Curious about not only if you love the tubes, but your overall thoughts between the two Torii. Your in an unique position having both.

Joseph

I doubt I’ll be trying 6SL7s any time soon. Good to keep filed away for the future.

What VR tubes have you tried? which ones are you running?

Quote:


I’m curious too. There are quite a few changes to the design. New transformers and input stage. It might sound closer to the ZMA than the MKIV… I’ll find out in a few months.

Apologies for taking a so long to report back. Last couple of weeks have been a journey with the Torii which started with dismay and has led to a tear.

Let me start with what I was replacing the Torii with. It's a Bottlehead Kaiju 300B that I had built. It's a beautiful sounding amp, so much so that I sold the Pass Labs XA30.8 I had been using because the 300B just sounded better in almost every department.

For a pre i've used a BHK Pre for a few years and that's important because although it uses 12A7U tubes, you can switch it to 6V and use the 6922 family of tubes. So I have had some 6922/7308 tubes sitting around.

After letting the Torii settle in for a few days (which was hard) I started listening using all stock tubes. Dismay. This wasn't the sound I was told to expect. The soundstage was flat, there was a sheen to the higher notes that smeared any clarity and separation through the midrange. Instruments I would normally hear were not there anymore. In simple terms I could not listen to it.
I continued to let it burn in and listen but no real change in the way it sounded.

Tube rolling begins

I already had some Cryotone KT77's due in but decided to try the Sophia Electric Aqua 274B. Immediately on putting these in things were looking up. The High hats and cymbals which were sounding tizzy were now sounding much better and the clarity was almost back and separation was better. Soundstage was improved but was still mostly flat. I could hear the instruments now but they didn't have a presence.

Then I remembered the 6922 tubes I had kicking around. I put in a pair of NOS Siemens 6922 in the front holders and now the soundstage gained some depth. I was almost back to how the Kaiju was sounding. Things were coming into focus.

The KT77's arrived and on putting those in, instruments became easier to pick out in the mix. I could follow individual instruments now but they still lacked a presence.

I have a pair of psvane cv181-t mkii (6SN7). They had been sitting in their box for a couple of years after trying them in the BHK Pre and pulling them out, not because they didn't sound good (because they did) but people had started reporting issues that may have been caused by these tubes in the BHK.

So I switched the 6922's for the 6SN7's and it the sound snapped into place.
Instruments now had a presence. I wasn't just hearing drums as a sound, it's  now like someone is playing the drums. The sound was no longer flat but was layered and had depth.

The sound now surpassed anything I had heard in my system before. With every I tried I was emotionally involved, being drawn into the music. Vocalists were like they were in the room. I put on Lindsey Stirling's Crystallize. Goosebumps, was like holographic enveloping wall of sound. Power, control, depth everything I was looking to achieve. Went to bed that night buzzing unable to sleep so happy with the listening session.

I ordered a ZR2 with the Torii. Haven't used it and don't think I will need it.

I think it's important to note that these are my findings with my equipment in my room so it could be it could be that i was having to make changes to compensate for my room/equipment shortcomings.

Well that's it so far, have no urge/need to change anything else, Torii will continue to improve i'm sure.

Giggsy,

Congrats, Had mine for a month and it's still settling. Worked it in daily for 5 hours on 5 Hours off.

If you don't mind me asking, did you upgrade the capacitors? What were the stock tubes that came with your amp? Too bad you can only fit one wide Chinese tube in the Torii.

It's only going to get better. Have you tried running the amp without your tube preamp? Took some time finding the right preamp tubes to run with the Torri. Some did not sound great...kind of what you were describing? Run my preamp in all three modes, mostly without the tube stage in the begging.

Good luck and enjoy,

Joseph

I found this a very interesting post as in my Monoblocks I've also settled on 6SN7 and the Sophia Electric Aqua 274B as being "anchor tubes" for the overall sound. Lately I've been experimenting with Voltage Regulation tubes for the output tubes as I had to replace the Tesla 0A2 tube types for the input tubes as one went horribly bad (the first time a VR tube has ever failed on me.) I put a pair of old RCA 0B2 in their place and am finding really good sound with all four types of VR tubes for the output tubes, 0A3, 0B3, 0C3 and 0D3. At the moment I have some RCA bottle-shaped 0C3 that are sounding really good going, replacing Westing House bottle-shaped 0D3 that I was enjoying for a few days, and before that I enjoyed some short straight RCA 0C3. Each type adds a different flavor and can be dialed in just right with the gain structure between ZTPRE, ZBIT, ZROCK2 and the Monoblocks.

Nigel,

Quote:



Best and most truthful statement I have read on this forum.

Joseph

One last thought, is it possible for the sound to get better daily? Last few days have been pure joy. The top end continues to sound more in focus. Is this the tubes, amp or both? Midrange is sounding a little more sweeter. Been running it 5 hours on in the mourning, maybe a little longer in the evenings.

Joseph

Thank you for expanding on the 6SL7 sound.

The amp will continue to sound different for a few hundred more hours. If you have the amp on for 5 hours a day it will be 4+ months until it basically stops changing. I agree with HK 3-4 weeks and you should be in the zone.